A successful print of a herringbone gear – in pink using my SumPod 3D printer

Well yesterday I had a somewhat frustrating day of trying to get to grips with the software and settings for my own designs. So today I thought I would concentrate on repeatability of printing itself. That meant looking at GCode files by other Sumpod owners, namely Airtripper.

Before anymore boring text have a look at the video: Lovely colour eh!

There are two approaches to printing in 3D with the SumPod under way on the forum, one using Marlin (and Printrun by one owner) and the second, using the original Sprinter and ReplicatorG software. Marlin has the attraction of adding hardware such as an SD card reader and being improved upon by some forum members (Stohn and Electronica to name but two). So I have been trying to get to grips with all the variables needed to obtain a print and differing software approaches. I have decided that my first successful print was using the original Sprinter and ReplicatorG then until I am confident in printing I will focus solely on Sprinter/Replicator.

With that in mind today was more successful with prints started several times. I did have some failures and this revolved around the position of the print table and homing settings. Now that I have 'cracked' the process of setting up a print of others GCode I want to move onto my own designs. I can print from my own design (see calibration block) but the quality is rubbish. Compare the quality of the herringbone gear today and my block (see photo's) it proves beyond any doubt it is not the machines capabilities, rather my own settings for my files. M next stage therefore is to concentrate on only printing out the calibration block I have made and make changes to see results. This will be the quickest way of understanding what need to be done.

First trial of the day – wrong bed postion and the table coming against the stops

The first part of the herringbone gear trial print – ran out of filament!

There is information on the forum regarding settings but I have been overwhelmed with it because there is Marlin, Skeinforge, Printrun and ReplicatorG data being generated. I need to cut that down and this is another benefit in focusing on Sprinter (I know the quality of print I can achieve) and Replicator. It will simplify the process.

I have made a pro-former to help me with each trial and this does bring benefits. If you want a copy just email me and I will send you one.

My final task was to prep the 3 pieces of MDF that make up the rear extruder system on the SumPod. I intend to have a dual system. One with 3mm filament capability and the second the 1.7mm filament. That's for another day though.